A photo posted to the Ryan Wiklund Photography Facebook page shows the Barstool Blackout show held at Memorial Auditorium in Burlington on Friday night.

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

What’s with the ‘blackout’

At the Barstool Blackout shows, the term “blackout” refers to the abundance of black (ultraviolet) lights, says Barstool owner David Portnoy — and not to any reference to booze-induced amnesia. Branding keeps the name alive. “I don’t know if changing it would matter much at this point, anyway,” Portnoy says.

Burlington’s decision to revamp its vetting process for Memorial Auditorium events after Friday’s Barstool Blackout Tour dance party is based on a “ludicrous” misrepresentation of the event, the road show’s president, David Portnoy, told the Burlington Free Press.

Speaking by phone Tuesday from his Barstool Sports office in Milton, Mass., Portnoy, 35, said he “hadn’t heard a peep” from city officials until Monday. That’s when Mayor Miro Weinberger, 42, held a news conference to announce a tightening-up of the review process at Memorial following drinking-related incidents at or around the show.

Weinberger also nixed a return engagement at the facility by Barstool Blackout.

“We had zero clue that this was coming,” Portnoy said. “Nobody is more surprised than we are. To be honest, we thought we had a great show there.

“There was nothing out-of-the-ordinary that happened there,” he added. “We left that building thinking we had zero issues.”

At Monday’s news conference, Weinberger said the city erred in failing to research Barstool Blackout’s promotional material, which he said might encourage attendees to engage in “intoxication and wildness.”

City police reported they encountered 16 drunken people younger than age 21 who needed to be taken to detox or be hospitalized following Friday night’s rave-like DJ dance party.

Weinberger declined to respond to Portnoy’s criticisms, either his remarks over the phone or a series of more-heated postings on the Internet.

Four of the drinking incidents took place in Memorial; the remainder involved intoxicated young people outside the building, the authorities have said.

Those numbers, Portnoy said, undermine the mayor’s portrayal of the event as alcohol-ridden and unsafe.

“There were about 2,400 college kids in there. I thought the numbers were pretty good,” he said.

Weinberger’s comment Monday that a death might have taken place at the dance was hyperbolic and irresponsible, Portnoy added.

“There’s nothing to back that up,” he said. “That’s not even close to the truth, and frankly, it shouldn’t have been said.”

(Page 2 of 2)

As for the racy content of the Barstool website, the owner said it hewed to its target demographic.

“That’s how we promote our parties,” he said. “That’s how girls dress these days; that’s how they dance.

“For better or worse, that’s what we do,” Portnoy continued. “We really have nothing to hide.”

Earlier Tuesday, Portnoy — who did not respond to requests for comment Monday — went online with harsher criticism of Weinberger, calling him an “out of touch, power-hungry lunatic” and “a hayseed.”

The city’s suggestion that Barstool Blackout promoted any wild excesses beyond dancing is “preposterous,” Portnoy wrote in a blog post, available at http://bit.ly/BarstoolReply: “I mean what are we even talking about here? There were 16 total ‘incidents’ out of 2400 people. None of them serious. For all you mathematicians that is less than 1% of the crowd.”

His post continues:

“Seriously you could walk around any campus in any city on any Friday Night and find 16 x 100 underage kids walking around drunk. You could walk into any dorm and find 16 x 100 underage kids drinking. Bottomline is nobody was hurt. There were no fights. Everybody had a great time.

“There was a minor issue with less than 1% of the crowd. LESS THAN 1%. The safest people at the entire UVM campus were the ones at our party with professional security. Not the ones pouring shots down their face in their dorm rooms. Like what do you think happens if you ban events like these? That kids won’t drink? That’s UVM kids don’t do drugs? It’s surreal.”

On his Twitter feed, Portnoy, posting under the username “stoolpresidente,” added this: “Hey @MiroBTV What’s your problem bro? You just created a very powerful enemy my friend.”

Weinberger replied to an interview request Tuesday by the Burlington Free Press by sending a short email several hours later: “I’m not going to comment on Barstool’s statement. Its shortcomings speak for themselves. We stand by our commitment to establish a new policy for events on City-owned property.”

On the phone, Portnoy’s tone softened as he explained the tone of his online rhetoric.

“We are an over-the-top website,” he said. “People who read us regularly know this. The news we post, the pictures we use — it’s all over the top.

“When we say, ‘We’re going to burn this city to the ground’ before a show,” he said, “it doesn’t mean we’re going to take a match to it.”